kaisou | [Intro] My mom Julieta, here's her deal

WHO: Julieta Madrigal and you!
WHERE: The Labyrinth and then all over
WHEN: February 13th
WHAT: Mamá Julieta has come to join the Madrigal arrival
WARNINGS: None at this time

A: She can heal you with a meal [Labyrinth]

When Julieta wakes up, she looks around at the absolutely massive kitchen she suddenly found herself in, her mortar and pestle next to her head, and she was sitting on a stool. No wonder she was so uncomfortable! However, as sleep left her mind more and more, she realized several things very quickly.

This is not her kitchen.

This is not Casita.

Her family is not here.

Is she still dreaming? She pinches herself and then winces.

She takes a deep breath trying to calm down. She takes a few more to be sure. Alright, time to think Julieta. She begins pacing in the giant kitchen. She is in a kitchen, not only is she in a kitchen but there are enough supplies to feed the entire Encanto. She had her mortar and pestle, and her apron and dress, which is not what she went to bed in, to be sure.

Julieta examined all the instruments in the kitchen, this was... not a traditional kitchen. Pots, pans, those were the same sure, but the whole thing was incredibly impersonal, stainless steel everywhere.

... Alright, she couldn't resist liking the oven.

She examined everything, opening all the doors and discovering she now quite liked the size of the refrigerator as well.

Maybe this was a dream! DOUBLE ovens with stovetops! Aaaah not a dream, heaven!

Still, she needed to figure out what to do. After examining everything, she found a door. Rather than it opening it up to a building, she immediately was faced with a long corridor going off in either direction.

She tapped her lips in thought, closing her eyes. Alright, she had food, she had water, the sinks were working, she checked. So she could make a plan if this took several days. The first rule of being lost was to stay put.

Were there others in this place? Were there wild animals? Maybe monsters or spirits? Her fingers tapped along her lips as she kept thinking. She then snapped her fingers, a plan in mind. At the very least, she should have something ready if she got hurt or found someone who was. Plus, she couldn't leave the room to venture out without food. She had no idea what was out there.

Grabbing a sack of flour, she propped open the door to the kitchen and got to work cooking, she had already categorized what food she recognized and what she didn't. She'd save the food she didn't know for last for rations if needed. Plus, she would need to actually cook something for her Gift to work. She chose recipes that would yield a lot of results with few ingredients. Arepas were the obvious choice.

Julieta rolled up her sleeves and washed her hands to get to work.

Soon, smells of food filled the air and Julieta was glancing at the door every now and then. She didn't know if she would attract help or harm, she glanced over at the frying pans and knives she had at the ready. She wasn't even sure this would attract any company at all, but she would give it a day or two before she even ventured out into the labyrinth. And she'd have cooked food that could heal her if needed. She heard footsteps and moved to slicing vegetables so she could have a knife in hand, not that she knew how to use it for anything OTHER than cooking but she didn't know who just walked in. She kept her back turned for the moment, trying to stay calm and casual.

"¡Hola! You're just in time, the food is almost ready, here come in, come in."

B. 001 Video; UN: Beekeeper
- and I just press this button here? [Someone with her mentions that she's already recording and Julieta smiles.] Gracias, no no, thank you for showing me how to use this. Please enjoy the aborrajados, eat eat. This won't take me long.

[Finally Julieta turns to look at the camera.]

¡Hola! My name is Julieta Madrigal, I am new to this city. [... Some... how. No one has answers on that yet.] Por favor I am looking for my family.

We are a very big family, so listing them all may take a while, so if you just happen to know someone with the last name Madrigal, and point me in their direction, or them to mine, I would be very grateful.

[The person with Julieta asks if she has anymore and Julieta pulls another bit of food from her pocket, handing it to them.] Of course of course, eat eat.

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[So many of us... she was glad they were all together, certainly, but why? What on Earth was going on?]

Alright, let me grab a few things. [She grabbed the flour sack that she had emptied and put in the food she had been able to make she then put a towel down between the food and atop the towel, matches, a knife, and three lumps of charcoal. She looked around the kitchen for anything else and immediately grabbed her mortar and pestle, as she knew that was hers from home.]

Alright, let's go.

We can mark our path with the charcoal if we need to.

[ Luisa waits, and while she knows there were supplies and things out in the city - and back in Casita as well - it does help having a few things ready. Especially since this is still a maze, and while she's pretty sure she remembers where she'd come from, it will still take a bit of time to reach the entrance.

Once Julieta is ready, she instinctively reaches to take the sack from her mother. ]

It's okay, mija, I got it. [She filled Luisa's hand with her own instead.] This way, we can't be suddenly separated by anything. If I get tired you can hold it, okay?

[She knew Luisa could carry it, even if she didn't have her gift, she most definitely could handle this if Julieta could. But that didn't mean she should HAVE to. She turned off everything to make sure a fire wouldn't start in the maze and stepped out of the kitchen.]

Okay, lead the way.

Oh, uh... [ She hesitates for a moment, almost like she was a bit lost if she wasn't carrying something. But she gently squeezes her mother's hand. ]

Okay. I've got you, Mamá.

[ She hadn't seen or run into anything that seemed dangerous so far. But if there was something, she could protect her mother. ]

[When they head out of the kitchen, they seem to turn the corner... and come to... another kitchen?]

¿Qué? [Julieta looked over her shoulder to where they had been, seeing the door behind them. a good distance.]

Is... every turn going to lead to a kitchen?

[ Though she's already passed through her before, Luisa takes a look around as she leads Julieta through. ]

I think so. These mazes seem to have some kind of theme related to the person, and from what I've every room has been a kitchen.

[ Which makes sense, given her mother's Gift, but it still worries her how these mazes are so specific to them. ]

Okay, so... we shall have to avoid the rooms. Luisa, mi amor, did you happen to mark the path you took when you came in?

[She tapped her lips in thought before taking the charcoal and wrote "kitchen" with an arrow on both the ground and the wall in the direction of the kitchen in question.]

Well, the good news is, we won't starve if this takes more than one day. [She smiled, rubbing her daughter's arm and trying to remain calm.] What's most important is that we have water and food.

[ She hesitates for a moment. ] Uh. I didn't, no. [ She...hadn't really thought to mark the path, for some reason. ] But I still remember where I came through.

[ Except now...she isn't so sure. She thought she'd been keeping track while making her way through the maze, and that she could remember the right way to get out. But the question does have her questioning herself.

Because what if she's wrong? ]

[She sees the panic in her daughter's face and tightens her grip around her hand, which is not an easy thing to do but Julieta would find the strength to CARRY her daughter if she needed to.]

Alright, we'll get through this. We're together, we can do anything together, okay?

[ She glances back towards her mother, still just a bit uncertain. But eventually she nods. ]

Right...okay.

[ She knows which path she took. She does. She just has to trust herself. ]

...maybe get some charcoal out, just in case.

[ It couldn't hurt. ]

[Julieta pulled out a lump of coal, tossing it up and then catching it, keeping one hand in Luisa's and moving the other to run the coal along the wall.]

There, one path back.

[She gently rubbed Luisa's arm.]

We'll get out of here, mija, I know we will. We've got each other, alright? Mamá is here.

[ Glancing at her, Luisa manages a small smile. ]

Si, Mamí.

[ A part of her feels a bit guilty though. She should have been the one comforting Julieta, since she'd just arrived here, not the other way around. Her mother shouldn't have to worry about her while having to deal with all this strangeness.

She had to be braver. Better. She'd get her mother out of here. ]

Luisa... [She is not a mind reader, which is just as well, but her daughters take on so much. Even right now, she knows Luisa is probably upset and she can't change it.

She continues to follow Luisa through the maze, marking the path as they go. They don't run into another kitchen, honestly, they don't run into another... ANYTHING for a while.]

You were so brave to come so far like this all on your own.

[ The lack of another kitchen actually worries Luisa a little, because she remembers passing through some others before she'd found her mother. But she's sure she'd come through this way...

Her mother's words have her tensing a moment, and she hesitates a little. ]

No...No es nada. I just...wanted to help.

[ She hadn't felt particularly brave, especially so far. But after what she'd gone through herself, seeing another maze had pushed her to help, even before knowing it was her own mother inside. ]

I know you want to help, but that does not change that you are brave. [She offered, rubbing her daughter's arm. She continues to run the coal along the wall.]

It isn't like I would have even known this was a labyrinth to begin with, and you came in here to come and get me.

[ Glancing down at her mother, Luisa manages a faint smile, before glancing around the labyrinth a little. ]

Yeah, these mazes all seem to be different, depending on the person inside them...personal, in a way. [ Thinking about it now, she isn't entirely surprised Julieta's was a kitchen. ]

When I arrived, my maze had been...difficult, until Mira found me. So when I saw this one, I wanted to help out, just in case.

[ And honestly, she's glad that she did, if it meant being able to lead her mother out of here. ]

[Intro] My mom Julieta, here's her deal

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